Donald Trump tweets bizarre rants by ex-fugitive Randy Quaid
Trump demands RE-RUN of election: President retweets Fox News-hating videos by ex-fugitive Randy Quaid claiming ‘a day of reckoning is nigh’ – despite Pennsylvania certifying Joe Biden’s win
- President Trump attacked Fox News and demanded the election be rerun
- He fired off early morning tweet storm that featured voter fraud allegations from actor Randy Quaid in a starring role
- Trump retweeted bizarre allegations from Quaid that attacked Fox News and called for the election to be rerun with hand written paper ballots
- ‘Are you listening Republicans?’ the president demanded
- Trump appears to be backpedaling after GSA started transition process
- His case for victory was dealt a severe blow on Tuesday when Pennsylvania certified its 20 electoral votes for Joe Biden
President Donald Trump attacked Fox News and demanded the election be rerun in an early morning tweet storm that featured voter fraud allegations from actor Randy Quaid in a starring role.
Trump, in the nearly dozen tweets and retweets fired off Tuesday morning, appeared to be backpedaling from Monday evening’s decision by the General Services Administration to allow the transition process to begin, giving President-elect Joe Biden and his team access to the federal government to begin the transfer of power.
Trump tweeted his blessing of the move, which many interpreted as a concession to Biden’s win – or as close as a concession as the president would get.
But the president was singing a different tune on Tuesday, vowing to keep up the fight so he could remain in the White House.
‘I concede NOTHING!!!!!,’ the president declared in one retweet that featured a photo of himself standing in the Oval Office next to the resolute desk.
And he came into the White House briefing room to make a short statement on the stock market after the Dow hit 30,000 points for the first time in its 125-year history.
The president made no mention of the election when he spoke, which was for less than a minute.
‘The stock market’s just broken 30,000. Never been broken, that number. That’s a sacred number, 30,000. Nobody thought they’d ever see it. That’s the ninth time since the beginning of 2020 and it’s the 48th time that we’ve broken records during the Trump administration and I just want to congratulate all the people within the administration that worked so hard. And most importantly I want to congratulate the people of our country, because there are no people like you. Thank you very much everybody,’ he said.
He left the room without taking questions from the media.
He also tweeted a series of bizarre videos from Quaid, who issued a call of arms to conservatives. ‘Our day of reckoning is nigh. Wake up!’ the actor said in one of them.
But the president’s case for victory was dealt a severe blow on Tuesday when Pennsylvania certified its 20 electoral votes for Biden.
The president’s legal team was fighting the certification in court but Governor Tom Wolfe, a Democrat, tweeted that he ‘signed the Certificate of Ascertainment for the slate of electors for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ as required by law.
President Donald Trump demanded the election be rerun in an early morning tweet storm that featured voter fraud allegations from actor Randy Quaid in a starring role
Trump retweeted Randy Quaid saying Fox News ‘forgot what made them successful’
Trump echoed Quaid’s call for another election
Trump had touted a ‘big lawsuit’ that would reveal a great deal of voter fraud, although he offered no specifics or evidence of his claim.
‘Our big lawsuit, which spells out in great detail all of the ballot fraud and more, will soon be filled. RIGGED ELECTION!,’ Trump wrote in a tweet flagged by Twitter as disputed.
It’s unclear what legal case the president is referring to but the Third Circuit Court of Appeals had granted his campaign’s request for an expedited review of a lower court’s decision to dismiss a lawsuit over voting in Pennsylvania. A judge in the state threw out the Trump campaign’s attempt to seek a legal injunction to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s win there and the president’s legal team is appealing.
But Wolf’s certification dealt a huge blow to the Trump team.
‘Trump did not succeed in Pennsylvania and he will not succeed anywhere else. Trump’s lawsuits will continue to fail, as they have in over 30 cases since election day, states will continue to certify their results, and Joe Biden will be sworn in as President on January 20, 2021,’ said Biden adviser Bob Bauer in a statement.
As part of his arguments he was the winner in November, Trump also retweeted five tweets from actor Randy Quaid, the disgraced actor who once sought asylum in Canada as he fled legal challenges in California.
Quaid sent out his own series of tweets alleging election fraud – also flagged by Twitter for having disputed information – and full of praise for President Trump.
The actor also posted a two-minute video rant about the election.
‘Is this the way America goes: from George Washington to George Soros?,’ he said, touting a conspiracy theory that Soros, a wealthy Jewish financier, pulls the strings in American bureacracy.
‘Ring out you bells of freedom, sound out across the land,’ Quaid said in his call to arms. ‘Our day of reckoning is nigh. Wake up!’
And he wrote on Twitter: ‘Never underestimate The greatest President this country has ever had. Trump is an astonishing man of the people, fighting for all of us.’
Trump replied: ‘Thank you Randy, working hard to clean up the stench of the 2020 Election Hoax!’
Trump also retweeted Quaid’s call for an ‘in-person-only-paper ballot re-vote.’
Quaid wrote: ‘We’ve lost confidence in the system that elects our leaders. 79 million Americans believe election was rigged, the results fraudulent. We need an in-person-only-paper ballot re-vote, especially in the States where flagrant irregularities have occurred. No accuracy, no democracy!’
‘Are you listening Republicans?’ the president demanded with his retweet.
It’s highly unlikely Republicans would agree to another election – a move that would be unprecedented in American history. A hand recount in Georgia certified Biden’s win there and several states have begun the certification process that will formally give Biden the 306 electoral votes he won.
The president also displayed his continuing anger with Fox News, which was the first news organization to call Arizona for Biden – a decision that enraged Trump.
The president retweeted Quaid’s praise for two small conservative television networks: ‘TIME TO MAKE OAN & NEWSMAX RICH. FOX IS DEAD TO ME!’
Quaid’s tweet also included a video message.
‘They forgot what made them successful,’ Quaid said of Fox in an eerie video filmed as a closeup of his face with light flickering across his features. ‘They forgot the golden goose.’
Trump’s doubling down comes after GSA Chief Emily Murphy sent Biden a letter on Monday night, writing that the transition process could formally begin.
Murphy released a letter to Biden announcing the move, but dedicated a considerable portion to defending her own reputation and claiming she had been threatened and harassed.
Her letter, notably, does not go so far as ‘ascertain’ that Joe Biden is the winner of the election, despite networks calling the race 16 days ago, numerous states certifying their tallies, and Biden winning 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232. She also called him ‘Mr.’ instead of president-elect or vice president.
It came just over an hour after Michigan certified that Biden had won the state, putting another nail in the coffin of Trump’s bid to overturn the election result.
The move ends much of the controversy over Trump’s refusal to concede and means that a concession would be purely symbolic.
It allows Biden to get the same intelligence briefing as Trump, order FBI background checks on his picks for office and talk to senior officials in key roles – most notably, Dr. Tony Fauci.
The Biden-Harris transition team last night welcomed Murphy’s letter, saying it was a ‘needed step to begin tackling the challenges facing our nation’.
‘In the days ahead, transition officials will begin meeting with federal officials to discuss the pandemic response’ as well as national security issues, said Biden aide Yohannes Abraham.
But Trump tweeted later on Monday saying he had ordered Murphy to start the transition ‘for the sake of the country’ and claimed he was sure he would win ‘the good fight.’
President Trump stopped in the White House briefing room on Tuesday to make a short statement on the stock market
Joe Biden has started building his government, including announcing senior staff position and major Cabinet roles
‘Threatened.’ Trump appointee Emily Murphy used her letter to Joe Biden to complain that she had been ‘harassed’ while refusing to start the transition and claim she acted on her own initiative in refusing to declare him the apparent winner
Murphy wrote to Biden defending herself and said: ‘I take this role seriously and, because of recent developments involving legal challenges and certifications of election results, am transmitting this letter today to make those resources and services available to you,’ she told him, after noting her ability to make resources available.
‘I have dedicated much of my adult life to public service, and have always strived to do what is right,’ she wrote, on a letter dated 16 days after TV networks called the race for Biden.
Murphy, a Trump appointee, claimed she did not receive any pressure to hold up the ascertainment – a word she never used.
‘I was never directly or indirectly pressured by any Executive Branch official – including those who work at the White House or GSA – with regard to the substance or timing of my decision,’ she added.
‘To be clear, I did not receive any direction to delay my determination. I did, however, receive threats online, by phone, and by mail directed at my safety, my family, my staff, and even my pets in an effort to coerce me into making this determination prematurely. Even in the face of thousands of threats, I always remained committed to upholding the law, she wrote.
She said her decision was not made out of ‘fear or favoritism.’
Murphy had resisted sending the letter of ascertainment as Trump refused to concede the presidential election.
But Trump has seen his case for victory fade day by day. He has yet to win a major court case.
And, despite making numerous allegations of voter fraud – including funding from Communists to turn votes in Biden’s favor and alleging voting machines from Dominion Systems changed Trump votes to Biden ones – the president’s team has not shown any evidence.
Numerous state election officials said there was no evidence of voter fraud.
ABC News reported that the Secret Service was already asking agents if they wanted to transfer to Florida to guard the Trumps full-time there from January.
As Trump remains huddled in the White House – he is rarely seen in public and his public schedule for Monday had no events on it – Biden has gone on with building his government.
On Monday he announced a slate of national security officials and more Cabinet announcements are expected.
In another small but notable sign of the looming handover, the Biden transition website changed from a .com to a more secure .gov domain on Monday.
COUSIN EDDIE IS NOW A CONSPIRACY THEORIST (WITH OSCAR NOM, ARREST AND ASYLUM CLAIMS ALONG THE WAY)
By Martin Gould for DailyMail.com
Randy Quaid has had an extraordinary journey from Oscar-nominated actor to sex-tape star to conspiracy-spouting Trump supporter.
Dennis Quaid’s older brother was nominated for an Academy Award in 1973 for playing a dishonorably discharged sailor alongside Jack Nicholson in The Last Detail, the highlight of an acting career that included such disparate films as Midnight Express, Independence Day, being Cousin Eddie in National Lampoon’s Vacation movies and Brokeback Mountain.
But in recent years 70-year-old Quaid’s eccentricity has increasingly taken center stage.
It started with him being banned for life from the actors’ union Equity and fined more than $80,000 for hitting an actor on the head during a stage play in Seattle in 1988. He also allegedly made ‘sexually inappropriate’ comments’ to an actress, calling her musical instruments ‘gynecological instruments.’
He sued the producers of Brokeback for $10 million, claiming they had fooled him into taking the role at below market rate, saying it was a small art house film with no chance of becoming a box office hit. Instead it won the Best Movie Oscar for 2005. He dropped the case before any court hearings.
He and his second wife Evi were arrested in 2009 for using an invalid credit card to pay a $10,000 hotel bill at a ranch in Montecito, California, and a hotel in nearby Santa Barbara He was arrested in tiny Marfa, Texas — he was there, he said, scouting for a place to build a Randy Quaid Museum.
Cousin Eddie’s a conspiracy theorist: Quaid started in 1973 with an Oscar nomination, starred in the National Lampoon vacation movies, and since then has become one of Hollywood’s most controversial eccentrics
Could have been a contender: Quaid starred in Midnight Express in 1978 but has become increasingly eccentric in the last decade
Though they paid most of the bill they repeatedly failed to turn up in court and warrants were issued for their arrests. Randy was eventually acquitted, but Evi was sentenced to 240 hours of community service and three years’ probation.
He had married Evi in 1988 when they were both working on Madonna’s movie Bloodhounds of Broadway. He told her he loved her on their first date and married her two weeks later.
The couple were charged again in 2011, this time for squatting in the guest cottage of a Santa Barbara home they had sold three years earlier. The owner said they had caused $5,000 in damage. But the Quaids claimed the home was still theirs and the sale was not valid, and again refused to appear in court, leading to them losing $100,000 bail money.
Randy and Evi then moved to Canada and sought asylum, claiming they could be killed in California. ‘We feel our lives are in danger,’ Evi told an immigration and refugee hearing in Vancouver.
‘Randy has known eight close friends murdered in odd, strange manners,’ she added. ‘We feel that we’re next.’ Among the ‘murdered’ friends were Kung Fu star David Carradine, who hanged himself, and Brokeback co-star Heath Ledger, who died from a drug overdose.
He made a documentary about Hollywood’s so-called ‘star-whackers.’ It featured him reciting Shakespeare while wearing a full-length fur coat with his penis hanging out. The couple started living in their car and stopped using cell phones so the supposed assassins couldn’t track them.
Evi was eventually given Canadian citizenship as her father was born north of the border. Randy applied as the spouse of a Canadian but his application was turned down.
The couple were then arrested due to their outstanding warrants as they tried to cross back into the United States, shortly before Randy was due to be deported from Canada.
He was again arrested in Montreal in 2013 for not checking in as a resident and two years later was deported.
He and Evi then moved to Vermont but California authorities applied for them to be extradited. A judge in Vermont found irregularities in the extradition request and threw it out.
Quaid told reporters that was because the arrest warrant had been issued before the crime was committed.
In 2015 Quaid uploaded a hard-core tape of he and Evi having sex — below a portrait of media mogul Rupert Murdoch. He had previously released another where Evi wore a paper Murdoch mask.
He first showed himself as a Trump supporter when he posted a video of himself sipping champagne as he watched the president speak at this year’s Republican National Convention. Now he has joined Trump in claiming the election was stolen.
BIDEN TRANSITION WEBSITE GETS A .GOV DOMAIN
The Biden-Harris transition website changed its URL from a .com to a .gov domain on Monday in another sign that the handover is officially underway.
Biden shared the new link – BuildBackBetter.gov – on Twitter on Monday after the switch was made.
The GSA, the agency which finally allowed the Biden transition to formally begin on Monday, manages the .gov domain and makes it available to government agencies.
‘Using a .gov domain shows you’re an official government organization,’ it says.
Biden shared the new URL on Twitter
Security measures that come with .gov domains include a ban on using passwords that have ever been leaked in data breaches, which are collated by the website Have I Been Pwned?
The GSA also beefed up security in 2017 to stop ‘hostile networks’ from deploying malware or tracking beacons when people visit official websites.
The president’s official @POTUS Twitter account will be handed over to the Biden administration on inauguration day in January, the company said on Saturday.
Trump will still have his own account, but Twitter says he will be subject to the same rules as anyone else – meaning tweets that break the rules could be deleted rather than red-flagged with a warning as they currently are.
Trump praised Murphy’s action in a tweet on Monday night and claimed she was the victim.
‘I want to thank Emily Murphy at GSA for her steadfast dedication and loyalty to our Country. She has been harassed, threatened, and abused – and I do not want to see this happen to her, her family, or employees of GSA. Our case STRONGLY continues,’ he tweeted shortly after she sent the letter.
‘We will keep up the good fight, and I believe we will prevail! Nevertheless, in the best interest of our Country, I am recommending that Emily and her team do what needs to be done with regard to initial protocols, and have told my team to do the same,’ he added.
Trump’s near-concession didn’t stop one of his current campaign lawyers, Jenna Ellis, from claiming on MSNBC that ‘the election was stolen’ and that ‘President Trump won by a landslide.’
That came despite another day of legal setbacks – which included Michigan’s supreme court denying an attempt to block certification; and the Trump campaign filing a brief in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals after a blistering lower court ruling that blasted ‘Frankenstein’ reasoning.
The brief claimed the Trump campaign was not seeking to disenfranchise 6.8 million Pennsylvania voters, just 1.5 million.
‘The campaign is not seeking to disenfranchise 6.8 million Pennsylvanian voters. Instead, it only seeks to set aside the defective ballots among the 1.5 million cast in the defendant counties.
‘The campaign seeks to examine a sample of the mail ballots to determine the defective percentage of ballots among the 1.5 million, which should then be deducted from Biden’s vote total,’ they wrote in their filing under expedited appeal.
Murphy had faced heavy pressure from Biden and congressional Democrats because without her blessing the president-elect could not communicate with federal agencies or access federal funds allocated for the transition process.
House Democrats were threatening to haul Murphy to Capitol Hill to explain the delay. They sent her a letter late last week demanding an in-person briefing from her on Monday. She tried to delay that until next week.
But they sent her another letter on Monday evening demanding one on Tuesday.
